Latching means for drop end gondola cars



Oct. 27, 1931. K. J. TOBIN ET AL LATCHING MEANS FOR DROP END GONDOLA CARS Filed May a, 1929 2 Sheets- Sheet 1 OOOOOOOOE l/ENTOEST' KENNETH J 755W XEL [Masai/E's l p 'l I r I I A rTX- LATCHING MEANS FOR DROP END GONDOLA CARS Oct. 27, 1931.

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Patented Oct. 27, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KENNETH J'. TOBIN AND AXEL WASBERG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO CAMEL COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS Application filed May 6, 1829. Serial No. 360,768.

This invention relates to latching mechanism for drop and gondola cars.

It is cutomary to provide one end of certain gondola cars so that it may be dropped inside upon the floor in order to load extra long lading on two cars as is sometimes done, or in order to drive in some bulky vehicle such as certain farm implements and tractors. Long sewer pipes are frequently shipped in this manner.

There are a number of arrangements on the market now which provide for hinging one end of a gondola car so that it may be dropped in but these arrangements are more or less fragile and they often consist of mere hinges at the bottom and eye bolts and hooks at the top. It can readily be appreciated that an eye bolt and hook will not provide much resistance to bulging of the sides of the car when the same is used for hauling other lading such as sand or coal for example.

It is an object of this invention to provide a gondola drop door in which the latching mechanism serves the dual purpose of latching the door when the car is intended for hauling sand or coal or the like in such a manner that the two sides of the car are substantially tied together against bulging The latching mechanism includes a. bar that also acts as a stiffener against distortion of the door. The arrangement of the latching mechanism is such that the door can be latched in position irrespective of whether the sides of the car are bul ed outwardly or not since the latching mec ianisin is so designed that it will tend to draw the bulged sides of the car inwardly. I The invention comprises the novel-structure iind" combinations of parts hereinafter described and mor particularly pointed out and defined in the appended claims.

In the accom anying drawings which illustrate a pref rrcd embodiment of this invention and .in which similar reference numorals refer to similar features in the different views:

Figure 1 is a rear end elevational view of a gondola car having a drop-in end involving this invention.

-Figure 2 is a sectional View taken upon the line IIII of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentar sectional view taken upon the line III II of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view at one end of'the drop end door.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially upon the line V-V of Fig-, ure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings,- there is illustrated a drop end door 1 which is provided with trunnions 2 at its lower end which engage in suitable bearings 3 upon the sides of the car. This manner of hinging or pivoting the door 1 allows the same to be dropped inwardly upon the floor of the car as shown in Figure 3. Near the central up per part of the door there is secured a suitable casting 4 which has a passage therethrough for receiving a latch bar 5. The latch bar 5 is pivoted upon a pivot pin 6 which extends through the casting and through the door. The ends of the latch bar 5 are provided with castings 5a which have laterally ofi'-set portions which are rearwardly directed. Each off-set portion of the castings 5a has a flange or lip 7 which is substantially of a ri ht angle formation as shown in Figure 5. hese off-set portions of the castings 5a are adapted to engage under suitable keepers 8 secured to the vertical angle bars 9 secured to the inner rear margins of the sides of the car. The keepers 8 are reversely directed and each em bodies a sloping edge 10 as shown in Figure 5 and this sloping edge 10 is formed upon a flange.11 under which the right angle flange 7 of the casting extends when the latch bar 5 is in its operative position. This flange 11 in connection with the right angled flange 7 on the casting serves to tie the two sides of the car together against bulging and materially strengthens the car structure. The keepers 8 have interior sloping surfaces 8a as shown in Fig. 4, so that as the latch bar is swung to operative position, the sides of the car may be drawn together.in the event that they have bulged outwardly.

,to the latch bar 5. The other end of the lever 12 is provided with a form of hook 14 that is adapted to be engaged by a hook 15 pivoted to the latch bar 5. This latching structure is placed upon the upward swingable end of the latch bar 5 with the result that when the clevis 13 is disengaged from the latch bar, the latch bar 5 may swing upwardly disengaging the hook 15 from the other end of the latch bar 12 as the same is caused to rotate.

It is characteristic of the structure involving this invention that it serves to tie the two sides of the car together and is also susceptible of drawing the two sides together even thou h the same have bulged to some extent. C bnsequently, when the ear is used for hauling sand or stone or coal or the like, there is very little liability of the sides of the car spreading apart at the drop door with the consequential loss of material. It will be noted that the latching bar 5 is ivoted upon the outer side of the drop tool with the result that said bar serves to absorb also the rearward thrust upon said door due to the ladin'g within the car. The latching bar hence serves a two-fold function in that it ties the sides of the car together against spreading and thuswise prevents leakage between the drop end door and the sides of the car and also greatly strengthens the door and absorbs the rearward thrust thereon.

We are aware that many changes may be made and numerous details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and we, therefore, do not purpose limiting the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a car having a drop end door, a latch bar pivoted intermediate its ends to said door, said latch bar having flanged terminals and keepers on the sides of the car for engaging the ends of said latch bar, said keepers having flanges under which the flanged ends of said latch bar engage for tying the sides of the cartogether against spreading.

2.111 a car having a drop end door, a latching barpivoted intermediate its ends to said door, and extending transversely thereof, said bar having flanged terminals. keepers secured'to' the sides of the car and having flanged portions under which the flanged portions of the bar are engaged when the same is moved to locking position for tying the sides of the car together against spreading, and means for securing said latching bar in horizontal door closing position.

53. In a car having a drop end door, means for tying the sides of the car together against the ends of said door and absorbing the rearward thrust of said door comprising a transverse latching har and means on the sides of the car for engaging said latching bar or engaging the sides of the car thereto and forming a rearward thrust absorbing memher.

4. In a car having a drop end door, a vertically swingable latching bar pivoted intermediate its ends to said door, keepers on the sides of the car for engaging said bar, said keepers and bar having overlapping parts adapted for resisting the rearward thrust on said door and for tightly drawing the sides of the car against said door.

5. In a car having a drop end door, a vertically swingable latch bar pivoted intermediate its ends to said door, keepers upon the sides of the car and having sloping surfaces for receiving the ends of said latch bar and causing the same to draw the sides of the car together when said bar is swung to its operative position.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names at Chicago. Cook County, Illinois.

KENNETH J TOBIN. AXEL IVASBERG. 

